- K- By Ayoub Barzani
The posthumous Maye Kurdish-Arabic Dictionary, with 1049 pages, size ¼, published by Spirez Edition, 2009 (www.spirez.org) also (www.spirezpage.net) is unique in its rich choice of words. The words are in both, Latin and Arabic characters. It includes unusual words, phrases, colloquial expressions and many idioms. The author is a well-known personality in Badinan, an erudite in Kurdish and Arabic languages and a renowned poet.
Well aware of the danger on Kurdish language and culture, due to the cultural policy of the newly created nation state, dominating Kurdistan, such policy aimed at the eradication of the cultural identity of the Kurdish nation, he begun, early in 1940, to regroup Kurdish vocabulary, with special attention to Kurdish oral expression, spoken by the elderly around him. The author, Taha Mazher Maye, was already in contact with the Bederkhan family in Syria, who were the pioneer in saving Kurdish cultural heritage.
Reading the introduction by the author, which is dated 1993/5/25, shows the extreme difficulty he was confronting for the publication of his dictionary, there were many promises from the “Kurdish heroes of the national liberation” which were never honored!
A part from his rich cultural activities, he was a freedom fighter and highly respected personality among the intellectuals in Badinan. The author has left great impact on the cultural life in Badinan, which suffered heavily from cultural repression, especially during the second half of the 20th century.
From deportations, multiple exiles, to the destruction of his beloved village Maye, in Berwary Bala, forced settlement in Qedeshe Camp, then Iranian exile in Ourmiye, then back to his native land in Dehuk after the Gulf war in 1991.
The publishing of his Dictionary, eight years after his death is an occasion to remember him, his poems and his entire cultural work.
- Source: KurdishMedia.com
